Walker was a late 2nd round pick in 2022 (57th overall), but played well enough in summer league to earn a standard contract with Portland. He was productive on offense, scoring off of cuts, spot-up jumpers, and put-backs after offensive rebounders. He hit 6 of his 14 threes, which is a very small sample size, but he also shot well from outside in college. He's not really a play-maker, but if he can at least be a play-finisher by finishing at the rim and hitting open spot-up 3s, that could be enough to fill a role on offense. So far he has only hit 27% of his 3-pointers in the NBA though, and has struggled from two as well. Defensively, Walker has good size for a power forward and enough athleticism to get some blocks. He can rotate for some big rejections, but has had a low block rate in his NBA minutes. He was a really good defender in college and has the physical tools combined with effort and awareness to defend on the perimeter.  Walker still has much to prove in order to become a reliable rotation-level player, but given where he was drafted the Blazers should be happy with their pick. He was a regular part of the rotation for the Blazers in '23-'24, but still needs to prove he can be good enough to be in a rotation on a good team.

Walker will be a restricted free agent with full Bird rights and a $2.7 million cap hold and Qualifying Offer. If Walker plays 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games this season, he could raise his Qualifying Offer to $5.4 million. They may also not tender Walker a QO, which would make him an unrestricted free agent. If a player has a smaller cap hold than his starting salary, his team can use cap space to sign-free agents before using Bird Rights to re-sign its own free agents. However, since the Trailblazers will likely be operating over the cap, Walker's cap hold is likely not relevant. Depending on how close the Trailblazers are to the luxury tax after free agency, if Walker is brought back by the Trailblazers on a multi-year contract above the minimum, they could benefit from frontloading his contract, as it could give them additional flexibility in the future. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Walker as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or possibly even the Taxpayer MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him to an offer sheet (although you rarely ever see offer sheets below the full MLE). However, Walker being a restricted free agent will greatly lower his interest among teams, as they will worry that the only way to pry him away from Portland would be to overpay him. If the Trailblazers don't give Walker a QO, this likely means he could be had for the minimum.

Trendon Watford (1 year, $2.7 million, 2024) Kenrich Williams (4-1 years, $27 million, 2022) JT Thor (1 year minimum, non-guaranteed, 2024)